Kirjahaku

The author’s account of being abandoned by her mother as a young child and her life in homes and institutions will captivate any reader. The mystery of her search for her mother and constant rejections will leave the reader wondering what demons drove her to be so elusive. “Call Me Auntie” was the best her mother could offer but this was just the start of a bizarre sequence of events. After discovering she had a brother and looking for her long lost family in Barbados the author finally came to understand she “may be a princess after all”. Call Me Auntie is a story of survival, resilience and changing attitudes to racism and ethnicity as the author forged a successful career beginning as a Woolworth’s shop girl before joining the police, then moving into social work. Extract: ‘Our new house-parents were Harold and Dora … He was a big guy who always looked angry. She was a little mousy figure but with a steel will underneath … Overnight, the household regime changed. As controlled as our lives might have been in the [previous houseparents’] time, the changes were shocking. Chores had to be performed to much higher standards, and there were new ones … There were new rules, routines, and responsibilities. But this was not all. With the new chores and new rules, our fear set in.'

Read these three short and sweet Christmas novelettes if you like Hallmark movies, hot chocolate, and romance that comes when you least expect it.KATE AND THE CHRISTMAS RIDEKate Chesterton doesn't have time for romance. Honestly, with her high-powered marketing job, she doesn't have time for Christmas either, but when her family needs her to come home for the holidays, she doesn't have a choice. With Christmas Eve and a blizzard both looming, she has no choice but to book Paxton Jones, a handsome driver, to take her back to Ohio. When the weather outside gets frightful, will they find love to keep them warm? LEXI AND THE CHRISTMAS BREAKUPHeartbroken after her fairy-tale romance falls apart and stranded in a mountain town far from home, Lexi Schmitt accepts an invitation to stay with the kindly local Santa. Little does she know that getting to know him - and especially his handsome son, Seth - will change her holidays in ways she never dreamed. SASHA AND THE CHRISTMAS LISTSasha Combs, junior high music teacher extraordinaire, has a problem. Christmas Break is only one day away and she doesn't have her family with her to complete their all-important Christmas List. But when Jonas Harper, a handsome fellow teacher, offers to step in and complete the items on the List, she can't bring herself to say no, even though she has a rule against falling for a friend. Maybe this Christmas doesn't have to be so lonely after all...

In the mid-1990s the Spice Girls burst onto the music scene in towering platform shoes and promptly dominated the radio waves with a string of joyously catchy chart-topping anthems about female friendship. While other groups aimed for uniformity, the Spice Girls were unrefined but infectiously fun, with five distinct personalities: Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh, and Sporty. By pairing their boundless charm with irresistible pop tunes, the Spice Girls cemented their status as icons in the annals of music history, where they remain the best-selling girl group of all time. Relive the heady days of Spicemania by taking a deep dive into the group’s discography, exploring everything from their smash hits to their underrated gems. Spice Girls: Song by Song goes behind the scenes to examine the genesis, development, and significance of each track, while revisiting major milestones in the band’s career, including their formation, their fight for creative control, their subsequent rise to superstardom, and the pressures of fame.